I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 162 - 162 161. We are professional photographers_1

Chapter 162: 161. We are professional photographers_1 Chapter 162: 161. We are professional photographers_1 The neighborhood’s sewer system was quickly repaired.

Qin Tiantian no longer had a reason to stay over.

To be fair, although she had a comfortable sleep at Lu Ban’s place, the lack of streaming equipment meant she could only use her phone to broadcast live radio shows, which was a bit too lackadaisical for Qin Tiantian, a virtual broadcaster.

She felt that as a dedicated broadcaster, how could she slack off like this?

So, the day after the sewer was fixed, Qin Tiantian returned to her own home.

She didn’t even leave behind any clothes to wash.

Lu Ban continued to work, completing the latter half of the film production.

This time, he only asked Hammer for the end credit song, other than that, Lu Ban had not prepared any background music.

After double-checking several times and adjusting details to his satisfaction, it was early November, the final deadline to submit the master copy of the film had arrived.

Lu Ban sent a copy of the film to the jury panel of the Yannan University Student Film Festival.

What followed was a waiting period.

Meanwhile, at the Yannan University Student Film Festival committee office, the person in charge of reviewing the films was also an industry insider, Yannan Media University professor Jia Wenbin.

He was a professor in the field of cinematography, previously having served as the cinematographer for several well-known films, with unique insights into the use of light and shadow. However, his later transition into directing was not successful, and after directing two movies that only received mild praise for the visuals but were otherwise critically panned, he stepped back from the forefront and settled into teaching at the university.

Of course, in this kind of film festival, he also served as a member of the judging panel.

Jia Wenbin received the master copy of Lu Ban’s film in the evening.

“This must be the last one, right? Mm, Lu Ban, ‘Cry’?”

After briefly confirming the film’s title, Jia Wenbin copied a version to watch at home.

After bidding farewell to colleagues and students, he drove home, had dinner with his wife and children, and then went into his study alone.

He had transformed his study into a small home cinema with excellent soundproofing, as well as lighting and sound collection treatments, providing a viewing experience comparable to that of an ordinary small movie theater.

After telling his wife not to disturb him, Jia Wenbin inserted the disc into the player and started watching Lu Ban’s film on a high-resolution projection screen.

“This director seems to specialize in horror films. His previous online films received a decent response, and this one looks to be a horror film as well.”

Muttering to himself, Jia Wenbin saw the beginning of the film.

“Oh, a pseudo-documentary, quite a concept.”

Indeed, Lu Ban’s ‘Cry’ was made in the form of a pseudo-documentary.

A documentary is a film that records events as they actually happened, showing audiences real-life experiences, while a pseudo-documentary “pretends” to record real events but actually shows a fictional story to the audience.

Speaking of the earliest pseudo-documentary, it should be the last century’s ‘The Blair Witch Project,’ a film that tells the story of three film students who go to a village to shoot a documentary and mysteriously disappear, with their camera and audio tapes found a year later, allowing the viewers to understand the sequence of events through their footage.

Many parts of the film consisted of the “actual” footage shot by the three, making it look very realistic and creating a sense of immersion, even convincing viewers at the time that the events had actually happened, causing a certain level of panic.

Since then, pseudo-documentaries have been widely used in the production of horror films, spawning many variants, including types that record paranormal events like serious documentaries, as well as those similar to ‘The Blair Witch Project’ that are shot from a handheld camera’s first-person perspective.

Lu Ban, it was the type who held the camera.

The story began with Lu Ban speaking to the camera, giving a brief background, and then, as the audio tape played, the story moved to the second layer.

“It’s not just hand-held; they also used surveillance camera footage? Interesting,” he remarked.

Jia Wenbin noticed that when presenting the story on the tape, Lu Ban adopted another pseudo-documentary style, filming the subjects through “lenses” like surveillance cameras and mobile phone cameras. These also provided a sense of being there, and the spying angles of various corners made one feel unsettled, as if being watched by something.

As he watched, a subtle emotion began to grow in Jia Wenbin’s heart.

The content of the first tape was about the troubles encountered by the workers during construction, which essentially set the background of the film. It was only when the person in charge of the demolition team disappeared into the room at the end of the corridor that Jia Wenbin felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.

Having finished watching, Jia Wenbin always felt like someone was watching him.

Turning his head, Jia Wenbin could only see the wall; there was no one else in the large study.

He continued watching the movie.

“The smell of disinfectant?”

Jia Wenbin felt there was a hospital disinfectant smell in the room. He sniffed, and it seemed like the smell had disappeared again.

“Is it an illusion caused by psychological suggestion from the scene?”

He analyzed.

Some directors are adept at using scenes, special effects, and imagery to psychologically suggest to the audience. For instance, some violent scenes show blood and gore, making the viewer empathize.

The hospital scenes in this film were very realistic, like a real hospital, and with the crafted atmosphere, it easily brought to mind the air of a hospital.

“Seeing through the filming techniques actually makes it quite boring, can’t even properly enjoy the movie,”

Jia Wenbin mocked himself, saying that with his occupational hazard, he liked to pick apart and analyze movies when watching them, making it difficult to become fully immersed.

After all, he was a professional photographer who had seen big scenes.

However, what Jia Wenbin did not expect was that after watching the second tape’s content, his previous thoughts vanished.

When he saw the old man waving at him, a chill rose from his spine. Even though reason told him it was because the old man’s makeup looked like a corpse, and the prior buildup led the audience to believe the old man might be dead, and now greeting him as a corpse or ghost, fear was fear.

Even someone like Jia Wenbin, who could understand the director’s ideas through camera language, felt even more terrified.

Because this meant that Lu Ban had not used any fancy techniques but simply through the visuals, made Jia Wenbin feel the chill of walking through that cold hospital corridor.

Common people, when seeing a magician’s performance, would think it’s amazing and inscrutable. But for a magician watching another magician, if it’s still inscrutable, that would be slightly uncomfortable.

Now Jia Wenbin could discern Lu Ban’s use of cameras, grasp the focus of the actors’ performances, and feel the atmosphere created by the lighting. Yet, he would still project himself into the tapes, into the doctors, nurses, and workers, feeling the fear, helplessness, and dread just as they did.

With great effort, he finished watching the tape’s content, his eyes red with bloodshot veins, and his hands clutching the sofa tightly to ease his tension.

He saw that in the movie, after the initial investigation, Lu Ban personally entered the abandoned hospital.

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